Snap fastener



' .Fufiy 29 o 1924.

- M. KIESSLING SNAP FASTENER Filed Feb. 15 1923 INVENTOR- is ATTORNEYS Patented July 29, 1924.

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Applicationfiled February 15, 1923. Serial No. 619,162.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, MAX KIESSLING, a citizen of the United States, residing at Waterbury, in the county of New Haven,

State of Connecticut, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Snap Fasteners; and I do hereby declare the follow-v ing to be a full, clear, and exactdescription of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it app ertains to make and use the same.

The present invention relates. to snap fas teners such as are commonly used on garments and ordinarily sewed in place. by ma 1 chines.

Fasteners of this typeare made in two parts, each of which has a plurality of eyes through which the attaching thread passes. In the sewing operation, a machine is used which has a traveling clamp, in which is to be placed a fastener part. The clamp is slotted to receive the fasteners, which are round, and this slot is formed with parallel side walls and a curved endwall so that the 2. fasteners may be securely-held in position. With a fastener in place'in the clamp, the sewing is. carried on by; passing the needle and thread through the eyes, in. rotation, the clampv being moved after each stitch to. present the next eye to the needle. It will be obvious'that, with the present round fasteners, it is necessary that the fasteners. be positioned inthe clamp withgreat care, so that the eyes will be properly located in the path of the. needle. as the clamp travels through its closed path. Round fasteners which are to be secured in place on a garment by such anxautomatic stitching mechanism are sometimes provided with a notch so formed in their peripheries and there is a smallstud formed in the clamp insuch ,position that when the stud is received-in the notch the fastener is. properly centered with its eyes at the points. where thereciprocatmg needle will pass through the clamp. as

the clamp is moved. As the fastenersare ordinarily-quite small, they are diflicult :to handle and the centeringqoperation-consumes much time. Furthermore, if thefas 5 0 teners are not exactly placed, the needle will strike the body of the'fastener, with the result that the needle will be broken orelse the fastener damaged so that it cannet be'us .i Qbjet Qfthe present i to overcome these difliculties and to provide a fastenerwhich may be used on the present sewing machines without alteration of the clampor other parts. To accomplish this resultl have designed a fastener of the same general construction as those now used, but

so shaped that, in being placed in the clamp, the fastener will automatically centre itself with the eyes in their proper positions relative to; the clamp and needle. At the same time the new fastener is easier to handle both before and after it is attached, while in general appearance. it isclosely similar to those now used.

The preferred embodiment of the invention will be more clearly understood by reference to the accompanying drawings in which Fig. 1 shows, in perspective, those parts of a standard sewing machine by which the fastener is sewed in place, Fig. 2 is a, plan view of one fastener part, Figs. 3* and 4 are sections of the two parts of a fastener, the section being on the line 33 of Fig. Fig. 5i's a plan view of the fastener showing the attaching threads and Fig. 6 is a plan view of the end of the clamp showing the slot in which the fastener is to be placed.

In the, drawings the reference character 7 designates in general the sewing machine which is provided with a needle 8 mounted in a reciprocating member 9-and supplied with thread 10 which. passes through an eye in the end of the needle in the usual manner.

The machine is also provided with a clamp member -11 which is. mounted on a working part of the machine which moves the clamp. member through a closed path -during the operation of the machine. As

shown in Fig. 6 theclamp is provided with a slot 12 at its "outer end and is channelled out along the edges of the slot on its upper fsurface so as to provide shoulders which are .to. support the. fastener during the sew- Iing operation. It will be noted that the 1 rearend of the slot indicated at 13 is curved and that the side walls lt are parallel. Ac- .cqlidingly a round fastener may be inserted in'the clamp and moved back so that its periphery will lie; in contact with the curved endof the slot. The dimensions of the slot in the. clamp will of course vary with the ize he tene ed nd he Qlflflifii dem ab y mounted Q11. t e ma n s h changes be western As has previously been explained, when a round fastener is placed in position in this clamp it is necessary thatthe fastener be properly positioned in the clamp so that the eyes of the fastener will be presented to the needle so that the thread may be carried therethrough. My improved fastener .is

illustrated in Figs. 2 to 5, inclusive, and

the contour of this fastener is, in general, round but it has oppositely disposed flat portions on its edges. There are illustrated four of these flattened portions on the periphery and I find that this is the most satisfactory arangement since it gives the fastener a symmetrical appearance. Disposed in definite relation to the flattened portions of the fastener are sewing eyes 15 which are so placed with reference to these portions that when the fastener is inserted in position in the clamp each eye willbe disposed at one of the points which are successively placed .in the path of the reciprocating needle. In the present instance the fastener is shown with four flattened portions and four eyes, and the clamp is givena movement step by step through a closed path. At each step inthe movement a different point lying withinthe slot is placed under the needle, and the present fastener is so formed that as it is inserted in the slot and automatically centered by the engagement of the flattened sides with the walls of the slot, the eyes are thereby automatically located at the desired points so thatthey may be successively presented to the needle. This fastener is to be made in various sizes and for any particular size the distance between two'opposite flattened portions will be substantially equal to the diameter of a round fastener of a corresponding size. It is to be understood that the clamps are made in a number of standard sizes which correspond to standard size fasteners, and the new fastener which is to fit any particular clamp will be of such dimensions that the distance between its opposite flattened portions is slightly less than the width of the clamp, while the radius of the curved-portions separating the flattened portions will be slightly greater than one half the width of the clamp.

By constructing the fastener in the form illustrated it will be clear that the fastener can onlybe placed ,in the clamp with the flattened portions lying in contactwith the parallel side walls, and I have placed these flattened portions, see 15, Fig. 2, at such points on the periphery of the fastener that by the co-action'betweenthe sides of the slots" and the flattened. portions, the fastener in being inserted in the clamp will beautomatically centered in relationthereto' with its. eyes lying at thepoints where the needle will pass through the clamp as the clamp moves through its closed path. Thus in using the new fastener it is not necessary that it be mounted in the clamp and then moved about on its axis until the holes are properly disposed. Nor is it necessary to insert the fastener so that any particular portion has definite location relative to the clamp. When a fastener is used which has a notch designed to receive a stud formed in the clamp, then when the fastener is placed in the clamp it must be moved about until the stud enters the notch, but with the new type of fastener this centering operation is altogether dispensed with. The shape of the fastener insures that the mere insertion in the clamp will put it in the proper position, since it is not possible to insert it otherwise.

It has previously been explained that the distance between the opposite flattened portions of the fastener is slightly less than the distance between the side walls 14 of the slot in the clamp. The rounded portions, however, are formed with a radius which is greater than one half the distance between these side walls. The fastener, therefore, is slightly larger than a round fastener which would have the same size number,

and which would be sewed to the garment by means of a clamp of the same size. Consequently since these rounded portions are formed on a slightly greater radius than one half the distance between the flattened portions, it follows that when the fastener is inserted in the clamp the center of the fastener lies slightly farther from the rear end wall 13 than would be the case with a round fastener fitting the same clamp. Therefore, when the new fastener is to be substituted for a rounded fastener it is necessary that the clamp be 7 slightly. adjusted and moved to the rear so as to place the center of the new fastener at that point where the center of the round fastener would lie. This is necessary so that the sewingholes may be properly placed with regard to the needle for the distance between the sewing holes would be the same for either fastener and the path through which the clamp travels remains the same.

Furthermore, inasmuch as the fastener has a shape which includes flattened and rounded portions it will naturally be much easierto handle. Since the fastener cannot possibly be mounted in any position except one in which it is properly centered with the eyesv in proper relation to the needle, there can be no damage done either to the needle or the fastener by the needle coming in contact with the main body of the metal and the flattened portions lying in contact with'the slot walls prevent displacement of the fastener in the clamp during the sewing operation. While it is clear that this invention may be applied to any standard form of fastener posed in the end of the clamp and the sew-- ing operation commenced, the clamp will be given intermittent movements by the sewing machine so as to present one hole of the fastener after another to the needle. In this way the attaching threads will pass between successive holes about the periphery of the fastener and the sewing operation is carried on until the desired number of threads has been introduced. The fastener, then attached to the fabric, may be readily slipped from the clamp in the usual manner.

It will be clear that a fastener made as described will be much more easily handled by the operative than ordinary round fasteners and, while thus saving time and possible damage to the needle due to carelessness, this new fastener may be manufactured at no additional cost. It is not necessary, furthermore, to provide any special form of clamp or to alter the sewing machine in any other way, although, as has previously been explained, a slight adjustment of the clamp is necessary in order that the center of the new fastener may lie at the same point which would be occupied by the center of a round fastener inserted in the clamp.

I claim:

1. A fastener adapted to be attached to an article bya sewing machine, this fastener having a continuous peripheral rim of greater thickness than the main body of the fastener, a plurality of sewing eyes disposed adjacent this rim, and a plurality of centering surfaces formed in diametrical pairs in the rim in predetermined relation to the sewing eyes, the radius of the portions of the rim between adjacent centering surfaces being greater than half the diametrical distance between the opposed centering surfaces.

2. A fastener adapted to be attached to an article by a sewing machine and consisting of a pair of cooperating members, one of which has a central socket and the other a central stud adapted to be received in said socket to hold the members together, each of these members having a continuous peripheral rim of greater thickness than the main body of the fastener, a plurality of sewing eyes disposed about the central point adjacent the rim, and a plurality of centering surfaces formed in diametrical pairs in the rim in predetermined relation to the sewing eyes, the radius of the portions of the rim between adjacent centering surfaces being greater than half the diametrical distance between opposed centering surfaces.

ture.

MAX KIESSLING.

In testimony whereof I affix my signa- 

